Buried in this week’s legal filings was a mysterious “Motion For Leave To Withdraw James L. Burke As Counsel Of Record” – which, once it’s granted, will reduce the horde of attorneys representing the NXIVM Six by one. As detailed in the motion that was filed earlier this week on behalf of Lauren Salzman, “Mr. Burke is no longer employed at the Arizona law firm of Quarles & Brady, LLP”.
Lauren will continue to be represented by two other members of the Quarles & Brady firm: Hector J. Diaz and Andrea S. Tazioli. And, as noted in the filing, “Mr. Burke is not asserting a retaining or charging lien” – which apparently means that he’s been paid-in-full for whatever legal services he rendered on behalf of Lauren.
No explanation was given concerning Mr. Burke’s departure from the Quarles & Brady law firm – but the firm’s website has been scrubbed clean of any mention of his name or reference to his work there.
While the departure of Mr. Burke will likely not have any impact on the overall case, it does raise some interesting questions. Such as:
– Is he related to Dennis K. Burke, the former U.S. Attorney for Arizona who was drummed out of his high-ranking government position in 2011 because of his involvement with the “Fast and Furious” gun-running program?
– Did James L. Burke leave the Quarles & Brady firm voluntarily – or was he forced out by the firm’s new Managing Partner Leonardo Loo, who took over in that position late last month (I guess Loo’s appointment and Burke’s departure could be a coincidence – but the timing is odd to say the very least)?
– Does Lauren’s newfound disregard for her former lover, master, and would-be baby daddy, Keith (I’m The Vanguard) Raniere, have something to do with James L. Burke’s departure (Lauren has almost thrown out her back as she’s contorted not to make eye contact with Raniere at the last two Status Conferences)?
– Is Clare Bronfman starting to trim back on the number of attorneys she’s willing to pay to represent her co-defendants plus all the other members of the cult who could be indicted in the near future?
Of course, anytime you think about how many attorneys are being employed in this case, you immediately start wondering why there are so many of them. And you also start wondering why only a few of them are filing all the motions – and raising issues on behalf of their clients?
To date, the prosecution has not raised any questions about the origins of the Trust Fund that is apparently being used to pay all the attorneys who are representing Raniere, Bronfman, Allison Mack, Lauren Salzman, Nancy Salzman, and Kathy Russell. Nor has it raised any questions about the propriety of that same Trust Fund being used to pay for other defense-related costs like private investigators and expert witnesses.
It is not known whether some or all of the NXIVM Six have entered into a Joint Defense Agreement. Such an agreement would, among other things, allow the attorneys who are representing the current defendants to share information and strategies without putting at risk any attorney/client privilege between them and their respective clients.
But even if there is such an agreement in place, one would have to assume that it doesn’t include the one defendant – Nancy Salzman – who has been described as “ready to take a plea deal” – and flip on the other defendants. And based on the body language of some of the defendants at this week’s Status Conference, it appears increasingly likely that there may be more than one such defendant getting ready to turn their back on Raniere.
He who has the most joy wins – but he who has the most co-defendants taking plea deals definitely loses.
Here is the list of attorneys at present:
Keith Alan Raniere AKA Vanguard
1. Marc Agnifilo – Brafman & Associates, P.C.
2. Paul DerOhannesian II – DerOhannesian & DerOhannesian
3. Danielle R. Smith – DerOhannesian & DerOhannesian
4. Jacob Kaplan – Brafman & Associates, P.C.
5. Teny R. Geragos – Brafman & Associates, P.C.
6. Brian Poe – Fort Worth, TX
Allison Mack
7. Steven Kobre Kobre & Kim LLC
8. William F. McGovern Kobre & Kim LLC
9. Sean S. Buckley – Kobre & Kim LLC
Clare Bronfman
10. Dennis Burke –Ballard Spahr
11. John Sandweg
12. Susan R. Necheles – Hafetz & Necheles LLP
13. Kathleen E. Cassidy – Hafetz & Necheles LLP
14. Gedalia Stern – Hafetz & Necheles LLP
15. William Savino Wood Oviatt Gilman
16. Alexandra A.E. Shapiro
17 Fabien Manohar Thayamballi
Nancy Salzman AKA Prefect
18. Michael J. Sullivan – Ashcroft Group
19. David Stern Franklin Rothman, Schneider, Soloway and Stern
20. Robert Soloway p Franklin Rothman, Schneider, Soloway and Stern
Lauren Salzman
21. Hector J. Diaz – Quarles & Brady, LLP
22. Andrea S. Tazioli Quarles & Brady
Kathy Russell
23. Justine Harris
24. Amanda Ravich
**************************************
Bonus lawyers:
Dr. Brandon Porter and Dr. Danielle Roberts
25. Michael S. Kelton – Abrams Fensterman
Nicki Clyne
26. Edward Sapone – Sapone & Petrillo
In addition, a source tells me that a number of witnesses and potential defendants already have lawyers courtesy of Clare Bronfman. . Frank Report hopes to identify these shortly.
“To date, the prosecution has not raised any questions about the origins of the Trust Fund that is apparently being used to pay all the attorneys who are representing Raniere, Bronfman, Allison Mack, Lauren Salzman, Nancy Salzman, and Kathy Russell. Nor has it raised any questions about the propriety of that same Trust Fund being used to pay for other defense-related costs like private investigators and expert witnesses.”
If the government started investigating the source of the trust fund used to pay the lawyers, they might find not only Bronfman money but also Salinas money.
Especially all of the Arizona lawyers.
Thank YOU, Captain Obvious.
Most of the Bronfman money is with Clare and Sara’s half siblings and cousins.They are still a wealthy and powerful family particularly in Canada.
And, I believe they still have little or nothing to do with the embarrassment daughters of their former nanny.
You are right on that score but I believe Edgar Bronfman Junior has been convicted in France of insider stock trading.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Bronfman_Jr.#Insider_trading_conviction
This generation of Bronfmans is not as smart or clever as their ancestors.
The grandfather had to be smart enough to make the money, the grandkids only had to be smart enough to squander it, Captain Obvious.
Fucking bravo!
F*cking bravo to YOU for your highly intelligent comment.
Thank you!!
Thank YOU for your highly intelligent comment.
If the money is coming from Clare and Sara’s inheritance, it’s none of the government’s business regarding the source. If the money is coming from criminal activities, such as RICO fraud and international trafficking, it will probably be frozen. But it will probably take a long time to sort that out. In the meantime, bootlegger granddaddy’s wealth is going to lawyers. How fitting, from one scumbag “profession” to another.
Dennis Burke probably made a wise-crack about how the NXIVM case was easy money and his fellow lawyers didn’t want that to leak out.
It would be pretty funny if an irrevocable trust was paying for someone to testify against you.
Dennis Burke is probably being kept under wraps because Ballard Sphar specializes in anti money laundering, even assisting with the international laws both assisting with the creation of and making sure the information gets out there. This is one attorney Clare Wil, hold on to
Clare doesn’t have the sophistication or education to begin to understand AML, international laws or compliance. The real question is, who is advising Clare?
Thank you AGAIN, Captain Obvious.
Although this could be the start of a trend, it could also be that when this many lawyers are together, some of them are bound to leave to other law firms, retire, join another line of work, etc.
I was hoping he was off the team because they don’t need a big team since she is cutting a deal, but a new managing partner makes it sound more like an old grudge being settled.
I guess Nancy and Lauren might as well wait to cut their deals until the next round of superseding indictments. Maybe everybody will have something extra special to be thankful for by the time American Thanksgiving rolls around.
You can’t wait forever to cut a deal. Once the Feds have the goods on you, they won’t be interested in throwing away all of their hard work just to cut a deal.